What happened in Paraguay?
by Rose Todd-Beckett
Summary: Set after 2x17 "An eye for an eye". What are Tony and Kate doing after their work in Paraguay is done?


I don't own NCIS or any of those characteres. By the way I'm sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes.

What happened in Paraguay?

"Here you are, Kate. I've been looking for you", he said when he finally found his partner on the rooftop. She stood there, her hands shored on the wall and let her eye wander over Ciudad del Este. He didn't get an answer. Not even a little reaction.He went over to her, positioned himself beside her.

"Everything alright?", he asked when seeing his partners thoughtful expression. "I can't believe that we had to let him go", she explained shortly still staring at the city underneath her."If that's the only thing I can cheer you up", he said not able to hide a grin when seeing Kate's confused gaze."He was shot shortly after he left the building."Against his expectations she still wasn't glad about it. Instead, a simple 'Luckily' was the only thing he got as an answer. No smile, no grin, nothing. She wasn't even happy about Percell being dead. Slowly the sorrow about his partner began to rise inside him. She appeared to be far, far away. His grin was replaced by a serious and worried expression."What's wrong, Kate?", he asked worried because he wasn't used to seeing her being so thoughtful, almost sad.

"I can't get this picture out of my head. Of Anna sitting there, being so afraid, distressed and desperate that she'd let him shoot her without even trying to resist. I can't stop thinking of how many times he must have abused and hurt her. And of how many times someone saw this and looked away", she sighed quietly, pushing herself away from the wall and finally turning to him. When he looked into her eyes they reflected how desperate she tried to forget about it, to delete the picture of Anna from her brain. The normally happily and cheekily sparkling eyes seemed to be empty. Compassionate he looked at her.He knew how caring Kate can be in situations like this. And even though this was normally a good characteristic trait it was bad for a federal agent."I don't understand how it can be possible that someone like him is protected by a Federal Agency. A Federal Agency is there to protect people and not criminals like Percell. I mean he was married to a seventeen year-old girl. Seventeen! They were in a relationship since she was fourteen. That's disgusting and wrong. How can someone protect somebody like him?!" She really seemed to be desperate. Desperate on searching the answer to all her questions.

"Someone who doesn't think of the people who get hurt", he said calmly and gave her one of the two beer bottles he had with him. "That's the only explanation I can think of."She nodded even though the answer wasn't very satisfying.They both opened up their beer bottle, toasted and drank a swig.But still the lack of comprehension was reflected in her eyes. He hated seeing her so upset, nearly sad.He had the feeling that he had to pull her into his arms, because she meant so much to him, and he didn't want her to be sad. And above everything else he didn't want to stand aside without doing anything. He put his beer on the wall which was the roofs boundary, before making a step in her direction. 'Come here' was everything he said. Therefore she gave him a confused look.Without saying anything else he pulled her closer and hugged her carefully. First he felt her tensing up because she was surprised but it didn't take long until she started to relax and leaned against him.

As much as they annoyed and teased each other and acted like competing siblings, they were always there for each other. If one of them had a problem or felt bad they always supported and cheered up each other or simply hugged.And these are those little intimate moments which show, how important they are and how much they mean to each other.

At the beginning there hadn't been a lot of these moments - in fact none of them -, but now they became more often because something definitely changed during the last year.They both knew that something was different between them but none of them said it out loud, none of them talked about it as none of them knew for sure what it was. But both had an assumption.An assumption, they didn't tell the other one.

So the hugs and the intimate moments got more and more. Not only did they hug when the other one had a problem for some reason or was devastated. They also hugged when they had a bad day. Simply because that moment made them both smile, and they both enjoyed it, even though no one admitted it.

And right now it was the exact same thing. Though he only hugged her because she needed to be cheered up, he secretly enjoyed having the possibility to take her into his arms like that. Sometimes he wished that he could always be so close to her, but he was sure that she would never let him.

Meanwhile, she leaned her head against his chest and sighed deeply. She'd love to stand here like this forever. Not moving anymore because she really enjoyed it. The hug and being so close to him was something that she wouldn't want to miss anymore.She didn't know where it came from, she didn't know, when it started. But it was there. This Feeling.This feeling that she couldn't quite classify even though she felt it for weeks or even for months.

During that time it became stronger, and yet she wasn't sure what it was. It was more than friendship.But she wasn't sure if she could already call it love. Yet she was sure that she was on the best way. On the best way to completely fall in love with Anthony DiNozzo.

She had no idea of how long they stood there like that when she recognized Tony slackening the embrace which was why she disengaged herself from him. No one said anything. Instead, they were standing next to each other, drinking their beer and glaring at each other inconspicuously.Finally, Kate broke the silence to thank Tony."No problem, Katie", he answered calmly.

It was still warm while the sun came closer and closer to the horizon and let the sky shine orange.

"Do you have one more beer?" Kate finally asked as she finished hers."I can fetch one from my room if you want to.""Yes that would be great. We could sit down over there", she said and pointed to a table with two chairs, which was about five meters away from them.

When Tony came back to the roof with four bottles of beer in his hand five minutes later, Kate had already taken a seat."It's incredible who calm the city seems to be from up here, even though it is so dangerous.""Yes… But the city is not the only thing that can get dangerous", he told her with a smile.

When he saw her questioning facial expression he simply answered: "You also got pretty dangerous for me today. When selling the phone, I really thought that you were going to kill me.""Well, I had no idea what you intended to do! You could have told me.""You should have trusted me!""I trust you, Tony!""Didn't seem like it today", he shot back and in the same moment he was sorry for it. He immediately noticed that his statement hurt her because her face mirrored the pain. And especially the brown eyes , which looked at him so disappointed and hurt, did as well.

Tony's statement felt like a fierce slap in the face, which hit her without being prepared and with such a force.So he thought that she wouldn't trust him.Even though it was the exact opposite thing.She trusted him like she trusted nobody else. She entrusted him with her life because she knew that he would protect her no matte what. He was her partner, he was a fried and maybe even more. She would probably give everything for him but it seemed that he didn't even know that she trusted him so much.Disappointed she jumped up, looked at him and knew that she couldn't hide the painful expression in her eyes anymore no matter how hard she tried."You have no idea how much I trust, much less how important you are to me!", she nearly shouted, her voice trembling because of disappointment.Another short look into his green eyes, which glared at her shocked of her fierce reaction, then she turned around and left without saying anything else.

He just sat there. Shocked. Unable to move and still trying to realize what just had happened. Of course, he had noticed that he had said something wrong, and he had also been sure that she wouldn't leap for joy, but he hadn't expected her to react this hard.He had rarely seen Kate so upset and that she was it now showed him even more how much he hurt her.And he saw it in her eyes. In this incredible brown eyes which didn't look at him cheeky - as they normally did - this time, but hurt.And he also saw the disappointment.And simply knowing that it was his fault that he had hurt Kate so badly, hurt himself. He had never wanted to hurt her, and yet he did. But it just spluttered out of him, and he had no idea why. Actually he exactly knew that she trusted him. As well as he trusted her.And he knew that he did not have the right to question this confidence. Never. Therefore, they knew each other too well, were too close, were too important for the other one.And yet he did it. And therefore he would have to apologize.

She flew into her room and locked the door because she really didn't want to have an uninvited visitor right now. Kate needed rest, she had to reflect on what had happened. And on some other things.Why did he question her confidence? Didn't she give him the feeling of being important to her? Didn't he know what he meant to her?Well, she knew to answer to that question because how should he know that he meant more to her than a friend would? After she never said anything, never made any indications.She herself needed a lot of time to realize that there was more- That they were more than just partners. And somehow even more than just friends. For a long time she had ignored it. Ignored that she even missed him when he had one day off. But one time she admitted it. Admitted her feelings for him. And maybe these feelings were the reason for her hard reaction a few minutes ago. Because reactions like that weren't very typical for her. Normally she was angry or disappointed but not in that kind of dimension. And normally she didn't run away but discussed the issue. But this time it was different.With what he said he hit her harder than she thought and obviously Tony had been shocked because of her reaction, too. But hearing him say this hurt her so much. Maybe it wouldn't have been as bad if someone else had said it, but hearing it from Tony was two or even three times harder than it actually would have been. Because after all she loved him.

Insecure he stood in front of the door. Finally, he raised his hand and knocked carefully. "Kate?"But there wasn't any reaction. Tony tried to press down the doorknob but obviously his partner had locked the door. He sighed before knocking again. "Kate, I know that what I said wasn't fair and I'm sorry. Could you please open the door and let me in? We need to talk", he said hoping she would hear it and wouldn't simply ignore him. They really needed to talk, even though he was afraid because he had no idea of what to say or how.It took a few seconds and his hope already started to disappear, but then he heard steps coming closer to the door and finally it was being unlocked and opened.Kate stood in front of Tony glaring at him with a serious look. "We really have to talk", she stated and stepped aside, so he could enter the room. Tony went by and the brunette followed him. She sat down on the bed and asked him to sit down next to her.A few seconds of silence followed before Tony began talking. "I'm so sorry, Kate. What I said was unfair and wrong and I know it. I never meant to hurt you but it just spluttered out of me and I don't even know why. I know that you trust me and that I have no right to question that."Kate nodded."Thanks, Tony", she brushed a strain of hair out of her face before going on. "I also have to apologize as I shouldn't have reacted like that. But it… You know, Tony, you're so important to me and that you might think that I don't trust you just shocked me and hurt me deeply."Somehow he was a little surprised of her being so honest. Normally she always claimed that she was fine even though he could see that she wasn't. But maybe she knew that it was time to tell the truth. Also, about her feelings.He knew that right now was the perfect time to tell her what he was feeling, but he just didn't know how to do it. As if she knew, she leaded the conversation towards this topic.„For a short moment I didn't recognize myself. Up to a few months ago I wouldn't have reacted like this. Well, I would have been annoyed or angry but my reaction earlier even surprised me a lot", she explained.She seemed to think about what to say before she went on: „Something changed between us, Tony."For a second he felt relieved because he really had been afraid that only he had noticed the change.„So you also noticed it. I really began to think that it was just in my imagination."„No, it wasn't, Tony. Something really changed. It is... I don't know how to describe it. It's weird. Sometimes you really annoy me and upset me but then I miss you if you have just one day off."The brunette even was a little surprised about herself admitting this.But she noticed that this was a serious and honest conversation and maybe the only and perfect chance to admit the feelings she had.„I know exactly what you mean, Kate, because I feel the same. And honestly I have no idea where that came from or when it started. I mean at the beginning we only were partners, but we quickly became close friends. But here... Now.. This..", desperately he was looking for the right words to say and was relieved when Kate finished his sentence: „But this is more than friendship."After that no one said anything. Now both knew that the other one felt the exact same way. But none of them knew what to do now. Quietly they were sitting next to each other and thought about what to do or what to say.After several minutes, it was Tony who carefully took Kate's hand in his. „Kate, I think that we both don't know how it started or where it comes from. But what we know is that this is so much more than friendship.For a few seconds he stared at the floor, desperately searching for the right words. Then he looked at her again. When his eyes met hers, she saw the insecurity in them.„Kate, I fell in love with you. I am certain about it and I truly mean it. I do realize that I tell you about another woman every week but none of them is as important to me as you are. None of them nearly means as much to me as you do."She saw how desperately he was looking for the right words to describe what he was feeling. But she also saw that he meant every word he said. The brunette started to smile as he couldn't even imagine how happy she was right now.„I don't know how this should go on or how this should work or... or... or how..." When he sat in front of her, spluttering like that, she actually felt sorry for him. It was cute how he tried to explain himself but became so desperate because he had no idea of what to say. Something that was quite untypical for Tony. But it showed her even more that he was being serious.She decided to stop his spluttering even if it was so sweet. Slowly she bent over and briefly before her lips met his she once again looked into his eyes and smiled. Then she kissed him carefully.He was a little surprised as it was actually Kate who started the kiss. Normally it was rather him. But this was different from every other time he had kissed a woman. This was so much more special to him than anything else.Her lips felt so incredibly soft on his, and he was sure that nothing could make him happier right now. The kiss showed so many emotions which just made it even more obvious that the conversation had been so important.When they stopped the kiss they were smiling as they were both so happy about what just had happened.After some time, Tony broke the silence. „Normally I would take you out for dinner now. But we are in Paraguay and I really do not want to be murdered today. And I think if we would walk down the streets in Ciudad del Este in the evening chances are high that someone will kill us", he explained.„I know what you mean. You can take me out when we're back in D.C. But today we can just stay here" she said and just couldn't hide a small smile.


End file.
